Nail-distributing machine



J. M. BENJAMIN. NAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

- APPLlCATlO-N FILED JULY 11,1918.

1,342g41-5. Patented June 8, 1920.

4 SHEETSSHEET I.

J. M. BENJAMIN.

NAiL DISTRlBUTiNG MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11.1918.

1,342,4L5. Patented June 8, 1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J. M. BENJAMINP NAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11,1918.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

1,342,415. Patented June 8,1920.

I. M. BENJAMIN.

NAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11, I918.

1,342,41 5. Patented June 8, 1920-;

4 SHEETS--SHEET 4- IIIII I tim orrrca.

JoHN M. BENJAMIN, 0F BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 U-NITEnsH'oE"MACHINERY CORPORATION, NEW JERSEY.

,or PATER-SON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION-OE,

NAIL-DISTRIBUTING E.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. BENJAMI a citizen of the United States,residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain lmprovements in Nail-Distributing Machines, ofwhich the following description, 111 connection with the accompanyingdrawings,

is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicatinglike parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to nail distributing machines and isparticularly, though not exclusively, applicable to mechanism'orga'nized to handle headed or collar nalls. I

The common forms of nails known as collar nails and headed nails areeasily and accurately handled in raceways in which they are supported bytheir enlarged portlons, that is their collars or heads, insubstantially vertical position, point downward. In many machines towhich .it. is des rable to supply such nails automatically, the nallsmust be delivered to the machine in the reverse position, that is tosay, point upward. A feature of the present invention, accordingly,consists in the combination with a nail raceway, of a member, for. eample a distributer cylinder, for distribut ng nalls received from theraceway, and means for receiving nails from the raceway, inverting them,and delivering them to the distrlbuter cylinder. The nail invertingmeans may convenientlybonsist of a distributer disk interposed betweenthe raceway and distributer cylinder and rotating about a horizontalaxis in such a way that a nail may be received from the raceway pointfirst in a suitable passageway in the disk and delivered from the saidpassage to the cyllnder head first. V 1

In this connection, a further important feature of the inventionconsists in the provision of a plurality of raceways, which may containnails of different sizesor lengths, in combination with acorrespondreceive nails from the respective raceways and deliver them asa single load to a single distributer cylinder.

Another feature of the invention resides inthe combination, w1th meansfor reversing the nails received from a raceway, of

, means for variably predetermining the number of nails to be deliveredfrom "the raceway -to the reverser. By thegutili'zation Specification ofLetters Patent; Patented- J n 8 1920. Application filed Jul 11, 1918.Serial No. 244,'399. V

of this ifeature, it becomes'possible .to deliver to the distributercylinder any prede-' termined number of nails 'thatmaybe desired toconstitute the load eventually to be delivered. When a plurality ofraceways are provided, it becomes possible to predetermine separatelythe number of nails to be delivered-by. each individual raceway, andconsequently a load can "be produced which will contain nails inanydesired numbers and arrangement as to,

length or size. The number of nails to be delivered from :a-raceway inasingle rotat-ion of the distributer disk may, advantageously, bepredetermined and controlled by the provision of means such, forexample, as a'separator' responsive'to the movement of the disk fordelivering to the passages or holes inthe disk a predeters' mined numberof nails during thefi'otation V of the disk; Itis desirable thatprovision be made for predeterminately varying the number of nails thusdelivered and means for securing this result are, 'accordi ly, providedby the present invention." specifically, in the particular embodiment ofthe invention herein "shown and described, the nail separator isoperated by an actuator having a plurality ofpinsa rranged to impart aseries of movements to the separator, and cam, or other suitable meansis ter member to retain the nails therein, of a yielding shutter topermit the passage of a provided for placing any desired number of sa dpins in operative position. i 1 r projecting nail upon movement of thedis- I tributer'member without endangering the mechanism of the machine,7

Another feature of the invention relates to the provision, for acylindrical member having nail guiding passages opening upon itsperiphery, of i a .detachable casjing for 80- ore:

- erably automatic, for closing the nail passage leading to thedistributer 7 member 7 free access to the )parts.

completing thewalls of the passages, which casing consists of a flexibleband of thin material- .This flexible band is preferably secured in.place byfa thumb screw or similar binding meansand, consequently, may

be very easily removed to afford access to the cylinder. I prefer alsoto mount the cylinder in such fashion'that it maybe easily separated orlowered away from the distributer disk when it is desired to obtainStill further features, of the invention comprise means for disposingnails accu- 1 may in jverticalposition just, prior to their deliveryfromthe raceway and means,-prefwhen the parts of the machine are separatedto gainaccess to the interior mechanism.

Other more or less important features of the invention will becomeapparent upon reading the following detailed description of thepractical embodiment thereof in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, 1nwh1ch;

Figure 1 is'aview in side, elevation of a nail distributing mechanismembodying my invention; x e i I i Fig. 21s a view of the mechanism infront elevation;

IFigsJ3, 4 and 5 arefragmentary views illustrating details of the nailseparators;

' Fig. 7 is Fig. 6 shows a detail of the meansifor V supportingthe naildistributing cylinder;

i '7 1 v 7 a perspective View of the driving and controlling mechanlsm.

Referring-now to Fig. 1, 10 indicates a suitably disposed portion of themachine pon which the nail distributing mechanism is mounted. A bracket12 bolted to the frame 10 serves to support the distributer. Two hoppersor'd'rums 14, 16 are j mounted to rotatefabout parallel, horizontal axesextending from front to rear, being supported and guided by rolls l8 anddriven from a shaft 20 through pinions 22 meshing with gears 24; securedto the drums. The shaft :20 is driven from the main driving shaft 23 bya gear 25 mounted upon the shaft 20 andmeshingwith a gear 26 upon thesaid shaft 23. 7 Power is received from suitable source by a drivingpulley 28,.

tinuously, while the operation of the nail distributer may be stopped,whenex' er d e-V sired, by disen'gagi'ng the clutch.

a The an drums 14, 16 may contain any suitable or usual means forfeeding nails deposited therein to raceways-36, 38,-*-respectively,wherein the nails are supported in approximately vertical position bytheir heads or collars, as shown in Figs-1 and 4:.

'Rowsjof nails in the raceways 36, 38 are retained, and the nailsdelivered fromthe '8 lower ends of the raceways, one at a time, by aseparator mechanism which will now be described. Fingers 40,42 mountedfor horizontal sliding movement in a guide way44 in the front of thedistributer frame are normally held apart and in position' to closethelower ends of theiraceways by a] compression spring 46, and are movedtoward each other against thetension of the spring 46 by separatorlevers'4l8, 5.0 pivoted at. 52, 547respectively, and drawn together by aspring 56 of suflicient strength toovercome the spring 46. The separatorlevers act upon the fingers through slidinglinks 58, 6Q,"the angularlyturned ends of which f engage lugs 62, 64: upon the slides 40', 4-2;

'The sliding links 58, 60 are formed in hori% zontal cross sectlon, asshown 1n Flg. '5, a

face 66 engaging the shank of,.. and acting as a stop for, the lowermostnail in the raceway as the row of nails supported in the racewaydescends, when the. separator finger is moved to uncover the lower endof theraceway; When the separator finger andthe sliding link are movedin the oppo} site direction to the position shown in Fig.

5, the lowermost nail is separated from the remainder of the row andallowed to drop into a distributing disk which will be'describedhereinafter.

In order to insure an accurate vertical.

position'of the'nail, prior to its release, a

stop 68, with itsacting face in'vertical alinement with the surface 66is provided. Ver tical adjustment ofthe stop to position 'it properlyfor engagement with the head of the nail is effected by a screw 70, 'seeFig. 4, the adjustment being secured by a binding screw 72. It will beobserved that the separator fingers are yieldingly actuated in both.

directions by springs, hence, there is no danger of breakage of parts ofthe machine, in

the event of a misplaced or a misshapen nail being encountered. .7

As the nails are separated'one by one from the lower ends of theraceways, they drop through guiding passages '74, 76 into radial holesinthe distributer disks 78, 80. Inasmuch as these distributer disks arealike in construction andoperation, it will'suflice to describe one ofthem in detail.

The distributer disks are mounted for ro-j tation upon a horizontal axis82 which is driven by a miter gear 84, meshing with 'a miter gear 86 onthe upper end of a vertical sleeve 88. The disk 80 is connected by a 7hub 89 to a separator actuator, herein shown a a anel pin disk 90. Thedistributer disk 80 is provided with radial holes 92 for the receptionof nails from the nail guiding passage 76. The actuator 90 is providedwith a series of radial pins 94 corresponding in number to the holes 92.Each pin 94 is provided with a square shank 96, see Fig. 1, mounted toslide radially in a guide passage 98 formed in the disk 90, and has apin 100 projecting from its side. The pins 100 engage in a cam groove102 formed in the inner face'of a cover disk 104 loosely mounted uponthe axis 82 to permit rotation of the cover disk relatively to the pindisk. A spring pressed pin provided with a handle 106 is mounted in thecover disk 104, and the pin disk 90 is provided with a circular seriesof holes 108 corresponding in number to the number of nail holes in thedistributer disk 80, in any one of which holes 108 the spring pressedpinmay be engaged to secure the pin disk and cover disk together againstrelative rotation. By withdrawing the pin 106, the cover disk may berotated relatively to the pin disk, and the shape of the groove 102 issuch that by such relative rotation the pins 94'wi1l be successivelyretracted or projected, depending upon the direction of the rotation.The construction and arrangement are such that any desired number of thepins 94 may be projected from the periphery of the actuator.

Formed upon the lower end of the separator lever is a cam 110 whichnormally is in position to be engaged by the pins 94 in succession asthe distributer and separator disks are rotated together. These disksrotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig.3 and the upperend of the separator lever is swung outwardly by the engagement with thecam face 110 of one of the pins 94, while simultaneously the upper endof the separator lever 48 is swung in the opposite direction by thecorresponding pin 94 in the actuator upon the opposite side of themachine.

The full entry of the nails into the holes 92'is insured, and theirescape, during the rotation of the distributer disks, is prevented by acover or guard member 112 hinged at 114 and provided with downwardlyextending segmental guard fingers V 116 embracing a portion of theperiphery of the distributer disks. The guard member 11.2 is locked downby a button 118 which may be turned downwardly, as seen-in Fig. 2, torelease the guard andpermit it to be swung outwardly and upwardly toobtain access to the parts of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3. The pivots52, 54 of the separator levers are mounted in the guard member and,consequently, the said levers and their connected slides 58, 60 are alsoswung out of the way when the guard is lifted. A

plate 120',"mounted upon a sliding block 122, pressed rearwardly byengagement therewith of the pivot stud 54 is moved forwardly,transversely of the nail passage 76, by a spring 124 to close the lowerend of the passage when the cover or guard member is released, thusavoiding the dropping out of the nail which may be in the passage 76 atsuch time.

The guard member 112 is provided with shutters 126 yieldingly held bysprings 128 I in position to close the front of the nail pas sages 74, 76. In the event of a nail not dropping completely out of the passage 74,for example, into a hole 92, the shutter 126 may yield to allow thepassage of projecting head of the nail when the rotation of the disk 7 8starts, and the shutter will immediately snap back into closedpositionwhen the projecting nail head has passed byit. Any possibilityof bending nails or breaking parts of the mechanism at this point isthus eliminated.

At the lower end of the sleeve 88 a star wheel 130 is mounted to rotatehorizontally about a fixed upright axis 132. Rotation of the star wheelis effectedintermittently by engagement -with the successive teeththereof, of a pin 134 projecting from the lower face of a disk 136driven from a vertical shaft 138 through a cl'utch140. Near its upperend, the'shaft 138' carries a gear 142, which is in driving engagementwith the gear 26 upon'the driving shaft 23. By virtue of thisconstruction, the upper portion of the shaft 138 is continuously driven,as long as the driving shaft 23 rotates, but the lower portion of theshaft and the star wheel driving pin 134are ,not operated as long as theclutch stop 144 remains in-the position in Fig. 7,keeping the clutchdisenga ed. f

ecured to and rotating with the star wheel 130 is a distributer cylinder146 having, in its periphery, nail guiding passages 148 equal in numberto the total number of holes 92 in both distributer disks '78, 80. Acasing 150 surrounding the distributer cylinder completes the walls'ofthe guide passages 148 and retains the nails therein; 1i5 This casing ispreferably in the form of a flexible band of thin metal, the ends ofwhich are secured by a binding screw 1.52 and. which may be radiallyremoved to afford access to the nail passages by loosening the saidscrew. Thecylinder 146*is rotatably supported upon a flange 154 attheupper end of a vertically movable, non-rotatable sleeve 156surroundingthe stationary axis 132. The sleeve 156 is provided with ahub 158, to which is pivoted a handle 160, having an inwardly projectingdog 162 which is normally engaged in the recess 164- in the uprightmember 132 to support the in the disk 178 comes beneath the lug 182,which drops into the notch, the clutch stop 144 descending into positionto disengage the clutch 140 and to stop the rotation of the cylinder.When the load of nails has been discharged from the transferrer 186, thetransferrer is returned until the detent 220 drops into a depression 228in the plate 224 which serves to maintain the transferrer station- "aryuntil it is desired to move it again to all the nail passages 148.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows: The nails to bedistributed and arranged are placed in either or both of the" hoppers14, 16. If it be desired to-supply Trails of two lengths in. each loaddeliveredfor example, long nails for the rear of a heel and shorternails for the breast-the nails of diiierent lengths areplaced in the twohoppers respectively; If nails all-of one combination of a raceway, adistributer length are required, they may be placed in both hoppers or,if the number of nails to :be'delivered in a load does not exceed thenumber of holes 92, in one of the distributer disks,,the nails may beplaced in one hopper only. The hoppers, having been thrown intooperation by engaging the clutch 30, 32, act in the usual manner tosupply nails to the raceways. Each of the cover disks 104 is set toleave projecting from the periphery of its corresponding pin disk anumber of pins 94 corresponding to the number of nails which it isdesired to secure fromthe corresponding raceway and hopper, theremaining pins 94 being retracted and, therefore, inoperative to actuatethe separators tates through half a revolution@ Simultaneously, theshaft 82 carrying the distributer disks 78, 80 receives, through thegears 86, 84, a complete revolution. During this revolution of thedistributer disks, the

separator levers are'actuated as many times as there are pins 94projecting, del1ver1ng at each actuation a nail from the raceway throughthe passage 7 4 or 7 6 into the correto the distributer disks pointdownward.

In the continued rotation of the disks, however, the nails are invertedand drop out of the holes 92 into the passages 148 head downward, inwhich position they are subsequently deposited in the transferrer 186.

After a complete revolution of the distributer disks and a halfrevolution of the distributer cylinder, the lug 182 drops into one ofthe notches 180, and the movement of the distributer is stopped. Thedesired number of nails is now contained in the distributer cylinderready to be delivered to the transferrer when the latter is moved'towhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is 1. In a nail distributing machine, the

combinationof a raceway, a distributer cylinder, and means for receivingnails from the raceway, inverting them and delivering them to thedistributer cylinder.

2. In a nail distributing "machine, the

combination ofa plurality of raceways, a

distributer cylinder and means for receiving nails from the raceways,inverting them and deliveringthem to the distributer cylinder. p

3. In a nail distributing machine, the

disk arranged to receive nails from the race 4, In a nail distributingmachine, the

combination of a plurality, of raceways,'a'

plurality of distributer disks arranged'ad acent to the raceways inposition toreceive nails therefrom, and a distributer cylinder arrangedadjacent to the disks in to receive nailstherefrom.

' 5.In a nail distributingv machine, the

combination of a plurality of raceways, a

plurality of distributer disks arranged one" adjacent to each raceway inpositions to recelve nails from theraceways respectlvely,

position and a single distributer cylinder positioned V Y to receivenails from all ofsaid disks,

6. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of aninclinedraceway, a disreceive nails therefrom,

7. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of an inclinedraceway, a distributer disk adjacent to the delivery end of the raceway,anda. distributer cylinder rotatable about an upright axis in positionto receive nails from the disk.

8. In a hall distributing" machine, the

' combination of a plurality 5f inclined raceways, a plurality ofvertically rotatable distributer disks at the delivery ends f thefrac'eways to the distributer members, and

v of each.raceway,a nail separator at the deraceways, and a horizontallyrotatable distributer cylinder located adjacent to the disks in positionto receive nails therefrom. I 9. In a nail distributing machine, thecombination of airac'eway, means for delivering nails from the raceway,means for reversing thenails, and means for variably predetermining thenumber of nails to be delivered. g

10. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a raceway, meansfor delivering a variablypredetermined number of nails from the raceway,anda vertically rotatable distributer disk arranged to receive the nailsas they are delivered from theracewayf l1. In a nail combination of araceway, a vertically rotatable distributer disk, means for delivering avariably predetermined number of mails from the, raceway to the disk,and a distributer cylinder arranged to receive the nailsfrom the disk. I

12.. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a plurality ofraceways, a plurality of distributer members arranged to receive nailsfrom the raceways, and

means for delivering a variably predeter- 1 .mined number of nails fromthe raceways 13. In a nail distributing machine, the

to the distributer members.

combination of a plurality. of raceways, a

plurality of distributer members arranged to receive nailsfrom therespective raceways, means for delivering na1lsv from the means forvariably predetermining the numbersof nails delivered to the respectivedistributer members. I

14. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a plurality ofraceways, a distributer disk adjacent tothe delivery end livery end ofeach raceway, and means for actuating the respective separatorsindependently, variably predetermined numbers of times to, delivercorresponding numbers of nails from the raceways to the respectiveseparators. a i 1 15. In a nail distributing machine,-the combination ofa raceway, a rotary dis- ".end of the raceway, a nail separator incooperative relation to the raceway, and means for simultaneouslyimparting a completev rotation to the distributer member and actuatingthe separator a variably predeter- V mined number of times.

16. In a nail distributing machinepthe comb nation of a" raceway, amovabledistrlbuter member adjacent to the delivery end of the raceway,said memberbeing provided w1th aseries of nail; receiving holes,

a r and means for moving said member to present all of said holes insuccession to the enddistributing machine, the

of the raceway and delivering nails the raceway to a variablypredetermined number of the holes. i

17. In anail distributing machine, combination of a raceway, a rotary'dlstributer disk adjacent to the delivery end plurality of pinsarranged to impart a series of movements to the separator, and. 7

means for withdrawing any desired number of said pins from operativeposition;

19. In a nail distributing machine, the

combination of a'raceway, a nail separator,

an actuator for the separator including a plurality of pins arranged toimpart a series of movements to the separator, and

cam means for placing any'desired number of said pins in operativeposition.

20. In a nail distributing machine, the comblnation of a movabledistributergmemfber, a rigid, stationary guard member, and a yieldingshutter in the guardmemberto permit the passage of a'nail projectingfrom the distributer member.

f 21. In a nail distributing :machine, the combination of a rotarydistributer member having nail receiving holes in its periphery,

. a rigid guard member close to the periphery of the distributer member,and a yielding. shutter in the guard member in the path of any; nailwhich may project from a hole in the, distributer member;

' 22. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a cylindricaldistributer member having nail guiding passages opening upon theperiphery of the cylinder, and

a detachable casing for completing thewalls of the passages, said cas ngconsisting of a I flexible band of thin material. 7

.23. In a nail. distributing machine,,

I j combination of a cylindrical distributer trlbuter member adjacent tothe delivery.

, means for securing the casing in place.

2 1. In a nail distributing machine, the

combination of a distributer member, a second distributer member, andmeans r'or normally maintaining the second -member in position toreceive nails from the first member, said means being constructed andarranged to permit -the membersto be easily separated manually to afiordaccess thereto.

25. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a distributermember, a distributer cylinder beneath the member, and means fornormally maintaining the cylinder in position to receive nails from themember, constructed and arranged to permit the cylinder to be loweredaway from the member manually to aflord easy access to' means foradjusting the spacing of said members. I

27. In a nail distributing machine for collar nails, the combination ofa raceway, and a stop arranged to engage the lowermost nailwhile it isin the raceway, comprising members having faces in the same verticalplane for engaging respectively the shank and head portions of the nail,and means for efl'ecting relative vertical adjustment between saidmembers.

Y 28. In a nail distributing machine, the

combination of a member provided with. a

nail guiding passage, a relatively movable cover member, andmeansseparate from said cover member rendered lnoperatlve by relativeapproaching movement of said members for closing the passage when themembers are separated.

29. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of adjacent,separable members cooperating to form a normally open nail guidingpassage, and means separate from said members movable transversely ofthe passage for automatically closing the passage when said members areseparated.-

30. In a nail distributing machine, the combination of a member providedwith a partially inclosed nail guiding passage, a cover member pivotedthereto and cooperating to complete the passage, and yieldingly actuatedmeans retracted by relative ap- 'proaching movement of said members forclosing the passage transversely when the members are separated.

In testimony whereof. I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN M. BENJAMIN.

